INTRODUCTION
EVERYONE AGREES
that follow-up to the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD)
is of crucial importance and that, so far, it has been far from
satisfactory. The obvious question is what can be done, especially
at the international level, to improve follow-up.
ICSW
has always taken the view that much of the impetus for follow-up,
and much of the monitoring of progress, should take place at
a regional or sub-regional level. Accordingly, ICSW proposed
during preparations for the Summit that high-level regional
meetings should occur every two years in order to assess and
enhance implementation of the Summit commitments. This proposal
was eventually adopted as Commitment 10b of the Copenhagen Declaration.
The
first of these regional meetings was organised by the UN Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Sao
Paulo in April 1997. It was attended by high-level representatives
from almost all countries of the region. ICSW organised an NGO
Forum immediately beforehand and also made a statement to the
meeting on behalf of the Forum.
The
highlight of the meeting was the excellent quality and orientation
of the material prepared for it by ECLAC. Some of the key conclusions
of ECLAC's study of developments in the region, and its identification
of priorities for future action, are summarised in the article
by its Executive Secretary, Gert Rosenthal, on page 4 of this
issue. Formal discussions at the meeting itself suffered from
the common tendency of governments to deliver lengthy statements
(often excessively enthusiastic about their own achievements)
rather than to engage in frank and specific discussion.
Nevertheless,
it seems reasonable to conclude that the meeting increased governments'
awareness of Summit commitments and helped to develop greater
momentum towards implementation. Certainly ECLAC should be congratulated
for leading the way amongst the regions in this respect and
for the professionalism and the commitment with which it did
so.
One
major strategic issue which was not addressed at the formal
sessions in Sao Paulo, but was pursued in discussions "on the
side", concerns the extent to which social development issues
(including Summit follow-up) should be pursued through the kinds
of regional or subregional groupings which have been developing
in recent years outside the UN system. These groupings include
Mercosur, which involves governments in the southern part of
South America, and Caricom, which is a Caribbean intergovernmental
process. In other parts of the world, of course, they include
the European Union, the North American Free Trade Association
(NAFTA), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and other
groupings in South Asia, Southern Africa and elsewhere.
Most
of these groupings regard themselves as solely or mainly concerned
with economic issues. A crucial but difficult question is whether
an attempt should be made to involve them directly and substantially
in social issues or whether parallel processes should be established
or strengthened for that purpose. The first approach is attractive
because of the considerable and growing influence which these
groupings are having at both national and global levels, including
indirectly on social issues such as employment and levels of
social expenditure by governments. Their impact on economic
and social outcomes is unlikely to be favourable, especially
over the longer term, unless they have greater input from governmental
and non-governmental people who are both expert in, and concerned
about, social development and equity.
On
the other hand, it might not be realistic to believe that social
concerns, and advocates for them, could achieve anything approaching
parity in these processes, rather than being swamped by narrowly
economic perspectives. A better strategy might be to develop
a separate process for greatly improving interaction between
social policy Ministers and also between their bureaucrats,
as well as between NGOs, from the countries in question. This
parallel process might then seek to engage with, but not be
subsumed by, the existing economically-orientated processes.
The
most appropriate strategy may, of course, vary between regions
and over time. Another opportunity for discussing and pursuing
strategies will arise within the Asia-Pacific region later this
year. That will be the second region to have a high-level meeting
on Summit follow-up. The meeting is being organised in Manila
in early November, and will be followed by a meeting of APEC
in Vancouver in mid-November. ICSW will be joining with the
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) in
convening an NGO Forum in September in Kuala Lumpur in order
to prepare NGO input to the Manila meeting. We will also be
joining with other NGOs in activities before and during the
Vancouver meeting.
ICSW
will be organising Summit follow-up meetings for NGOs in the
African region (in Harare in July), in the European region (in
Copenhagen in October) and in the Latin American region (in
Rio de Janeiro in November). We look forward to joining with
other NGOs, as well as with governments and intergovernmental
organisations, in these and other efforts to build pressure
and encouragement within regions and sub-regions for vigorous
and sustained follow-up to the Copenhagen commitments.
JULIAN DISNEY
President
International Council on Social Welfare
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